


Battle of the Murderers

by Muridd



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horror, Angst, Betrayal, Blood and Gore, Cannibalism, Character Death, Gen, Obsession, Stabbing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-04-05 07:12:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19043704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muridd/pseuds/Muridd
Summary: Disclaimer: This is not canon A Hat in Time! This is an alternative universe based around horror and it is not nice nor fluffy. You can read its lore hereAHiT Horror AUAfter crash landing in a weird town, being beaten up by the Mafia and nearly killed by an ax-crazy girl, Horaita/Horror Kid decides that this town was a load of peck. She decides to venture out only to find a studio in the middle of nowhere. Hungry and scarred she goes inside and finds The Conductor who promises to help her after he's done filming.





	1. Bird Dinner

"GAH- AGAIN? Im done with you!”

The owl's eyes flared up with anxiety "N-no please, it was an honest mistake! I didn't mean for the prop to fall again!"

Conductor growled "Ye no good…- I'll see you later.. at my desk. Remember to grab yer things." He sighed in exhaustion, getting down from the high chair. "C'mere lass. Why don't we get outta here and take a break? Perhaps locate your room?" he asked Horatia and she nodded, getting a hold of his arm as they began walking.  
"NO!" The owl began moving after them, but stopped and instead fell onto its knees, hyperventilating and sobbing with its face in its shaking hands.  
" _P-please.._ " it managed to squirm out and Conductor turned around.

"If you know what's good fer you, you’ll get out of my sight. Think about it, you’re takin’ a bullet fer the others!” he said with glee, then tugged at Horaita to motion her to continue walking.

"Why was it so worked up about getting fired?" Horaita said after a minute of awkward silence. She figured the 'grab yer things' thing meant it would be losing its job, but the bird seemed more scared than upset.  
"Don't feel bad lass." Conductor replied. "That owl's been a wee troublemaker ever since it came here. It's just how it is, I need the best crew so I can make the best movies, ye feel me?" he gave her a slight smile and she couldn't help but return the favor. Well of course, it was probably hard to make a living on this planet so obviously Conductor had to have some great actors to stand out. Still, she did feel a bit bad for the owl and she made a mental note of finding it later so she could bid it farewell with a hug.

Soon they came to a flight of stairs going down, the bottom swallowed by shadows. "Just down here, through a corridor and we'll be at yer room. Don't worry 'bout the dark, the lightbulb hasn't been fixed in a long time. Just watch ye step, there'll be light again downstairs." he said, urging her to go first.

She carefully put her foot on the first step, the wood creaking and for a second she was afraid it would break. She then warily walked down, Conductor right behind her. This is okay she thought - until she suddenly slipped in the dark, tumbling all the way down, till she faceplanted the dirty floor at the bottom. She heard a small "heh" from the man above her who got down with no complications.

"You good?" He patted her head and she looked up from the floor with a bruised face, spitting out some dust as the world went round and round. Tears welled up in her eyes and she clutched her arm which hurt and leaked red onto her dress. "Hey, lassie!" he worriedly exclaimed, crouching down and getting her up in a sitting position. "Hold on, let me have a look." Conductor said calmly, grabbing her wrist and inspecting the large gash that had appeared across her forearm. She breathed in sharply and closed her eyes, a tear rolling down her cheek. The pain, it reminded her of her time in Mafia Town where she'd met the goons who turned out to not be all that welcoming, even for young children. Even the girl she met was out for blood.

Something scraped her wound and she yelped, her eyes shooting open to stare at him. Conductor stared back at her, a mixture of confusion and perhaps a bit of excitement on his face. "What'd you do??" she squealed. Was that a splotch of blood on his teeth?  
"Heh sorry 'bout that, guess I leaned in a bit too close." he mumbled and stood up. “Okay stay here, I’ll get some antiseptics and bandages.”  
As he left she realised that she was indeed in the corridor now with various old looking metal doors lining the hallway which then took a sharp turn further down. This was a big studio she thought. Curiosity getting the better of her, Horaita stood up to have a little peek in some of the door's small windows. Thankfully they weren't that tall since the owls and The Conductor were all pretty short like she was. In some of the rooms there was just boxes of various supplies, a different one containing lighting equipment. One even seemed to be a room full of outfits and flashy movie posters. Seems like he really did make great movies. Feeling a little better she was about to go back to her spot when a door without a window caught her eye.  
She walked up to it and could immediately pick up a horrid stench. Peck it smelt bad in there...wonder what was inside? The door wouldn't budge so she slowly leaned her face to the keyhole.

“HEY, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!” The Conductor yelled whose footsteps had been too silent for her to notice and she gasped, turning around.

“I-I didn’t see anything!!” she screamed, cowering as the furious man stomped over to her. Looming over her he snarled as he forcefully grabbed her head to look at him while seeming to reach for something in his pocket.

"I really didn't I swear!" she screamed again and his expression slowly subsided, hand coming back out of his pocket as well.  
He huffed and she noticed visible sweat on his forehead had formed. “Okay..That’s OK! Don’t worry lassie, I was just worried that you’d harm yourself further.” He now calmly said, letting go of her. “Look, I’ve got your treatment.” He beckoned her to extend her arm and then began treating it, applying the antiseptics first which stung. Soon her arm was wrapped in bandages and he gave her a pat on the back with a smile.

"Look, I'm sorry. There are some dangerous equipment in there fer me movies and you getting cut up even further wouldn't be great now would it? Haha." he chuckled.  
"Okay, let me show you the room you’ll be stayin’ in." he took her hand, walking further down the corridor. "Y'see we don't usually get any humans 'round here so I haven't exactly prepared err..and proper room I suppose. It’s just me n’ DJ Peck Neck sharing this studio with the owls and penguins.” he talked as they made their way. “Where are ye from lass?” he then asked. 

“I live in a spaceship!” she grinned “But it was recently shot down by the mafia so I crash landed…”. Conductor looked at her interested.

“A spaceship eh? Well it’s a shame it ain’t working anymore then. Don’t worry, you can stay here fer some time, I don’ mind at all.”

“Thank you Mr. Conductor.” she smiled at him and in return she got her hair ruffled. While a bit hot headed and weird, this guy seemed genuinely nice. He even patched her up!

“Here we are, yer room.” he opened the door. Conductor was right, they hadn’t expected any sleepovers here, but it was still more than she had expected. A sofa, a table, chairs, a sink, even some light. The sofa was riddled with a bunch of pillows as well which required all her willpower not to jump right into them.  
“Hehe, go ahead and get some rest. I’ll come back later with dinner after I’m done with the filming.” Her stomach audibly grumbled at that thought and he walked out the door which gave her free reign to throw herself right on the couch. How long had it been since she could properly relax? Up until now she had constantly been on the move, being chased around by psychopaths out for her blood. With much nicer thoughts of food in her mind she drifted off to sleep in her personal pillow heaven.

…

Something awoke her from her sleep. She sighed and slowly opened her eyes, remembering where she is. Not as comforting as her spaceship, but comforting nonetheless she thought as she hugged one of the pillows. She was just about to go back to sleep when she suddenly heard a blood curdling scream that sent chills down her spine.  
Fully awake now she looked up in horror and stepped down on the cold floor. It definitely came from the corridor somewhere.She slowly opened the door, nearly shrieking as a different door was slammed somewhere past the sharp turn. Should she go look?

Her curiosity got the better of her as she sneaked outside and began moving in the direction she heard the noises from. A third noise, this time it was The Conductor speaking and it was definitely coming from ‘the forbidden room’ without the window. She couldn’t quite make out what he was saying so she moved closer to the door…

Out stepped Conductor in his undershirt and panting. And the blood - it was everywhere. On his chest, on his hands, face. It was splattered in a way that made it look like it couldn’t possibly be his own.  
She stood there frozen, unable to make a sound. He then noticed her, and stared back with wide eyes for a solid 10 seconds. The more she looked, the more she began to notice that his clothes were scruffed up as well and that he had a few bruises on his arms and face. Like if he had been in a fight.

[Cold Steel♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTBL-nkjilY&list=PLTmvDPWQWsr79PLhkvABD0abe-gXeVpEg&index=68)

_“Are you...okay?”_ she shakily managed to whisper.

He exhaled slightly, a visible streak of sweat going down his face. “Don’t be afraid. This isn’t what it looks like.” he excused, although not any less frightening. “Trust me, it’s...a slaughter room okay. For normal meat of course. Our movies need the craziest things sometimes and I thought I’d just prepare dinner in there as well alright? Look, I’ll show you!” he hurried inside the stinking room again and Horaita pondered if she should start running. Before she could do anything he came back out holding...a frozen chicken.  
“See? We have food in there!” he said happily. The realization visibly relaxed her and she began instead thinking of food once more. When had she last eaten again?

“Now go back to bed lassie...I’ll wake you up when I’ve prepared the dinner.” he grinned, the blood not making it seem like too much of a friendly gesture. She nodded and turned around. While walking back she could hear him scrambling around with tools in the slaughter room and all she could think about was the most delicious and tender chicken she’s ever had.

…

“Wake up…”  
“Hey, wake up peck neck.” again, and something shook her slightly. She looked up and almost shrieked at the sight of Conductor in her face looking as if he wondered if she had died while he was gone.  
“Good, wakey wakey. I’ve brought this with me-” he walked away only to return with the tastiest looking meal she’d ever seen and she had to control herself to not to eat it straight out of the bowl. “Food. C’mere I’ve prepared the table as well.”  
She scurried over to one of the chairs and eagerly awaited permission to dig in which he quickly gave. The meal consisted of a lot of meat (yum) and some vegetable. A salad of sorts. 

“What did you make?” she curiously asked between stuffing herself.

“Oh jus’ a bit of lettuce, chicken, carrot and a bunch of other ingredients. Nothin’ too special. Ye seem to like it though.” and she frantically nodded with a mouthful of salad which made him chuckle.

“You never answered my question.” she suddenly said while getting another bite on her fork. “What?” - “You never told me if you were alright. I see those bruises, what happened?”  
“Ah.” he scratched the side of his face. “Remember that owl who got fired today? When he came to me office we actually got into a fight. Another owl thankfully spotted us and we quickly had him leave.”  
“Oh..” she looked down a little. She used to feel bad for the owl, but it seems like it just wasn’t a cooperative co-worker as The Conductor had described before. Also it had hurt her new friend!

After finishing up she got off her chair and walked towards him which made him raise an eyebrow in a puzzled expression.

“Thank you for everything!” she almost shouted and unexpectedly hugged him which caught him off guard.  
“Ah, it’s my pleasure little lass.” he grinned, putting a hand on her back in a similar gesture. Actually he seemed to _dig_ it in more than just place it, but Horatia felt none of that, she was too busy being thankful. Privately his grin turned into a slight smirk.

Oh yes, they’ve never had human around here...


	2. Murders on the Owl Express

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 to my fic of Horaita’s stay in Dead Bird Studio!

Conductor had then left her in her room after dinner and gone upstairs. Needless to say, she went straight for bed. No more snooping around (at least for now!). At the moment she just wanted to rest her exhausted mind and body from the recent events that had happened...

 _That night she had horrible dreams of time pieces growing teeth and biting her, eating her._  
“Someone..help!” she cried out. “Mom, dad where are you??”  
Desperately she tried kicking the time pieces off, only for more to latch onto her. All around her she saw eyes in the void watching, dozens of them.  
"Help me!" she reached out, only for them to close their eyes and disappear. As the hungry time pieces kept pulling her down she felt herself giving up, and crumbled to her knees.

…

Horaita awoke in cold sweat to Conductor shaking her awake.  
"Allllriight! G’morning, it's a new day and we've got important plans to discuss!" he said, his loud voice booming in her tired head.  
She rubbed her eyelids and got off the couch, slowly following him. "What plans?" she yawned.  
"Well yesterday I realized that me owls are pitiful actors and that I could easily replace the protagonist with a much better subject."

He seemed to be waiting for a reaction and she looked around confused, then slowly pointed at herself questionably.  
"That's right, I want you to be the star in me movies! Prove useful and I'll...promote you! Now come along." He gestured for her to follow and they left her room.

An actor? The thought excited her, but at the same time she was worried. Could she live up to his expectations? Could she be better than the owl that got fired yesterday?  
One thing she could find comfort in - the guy hadn’t harmed her yet unlike every other person she had met so far. Sure he had been a little aggressive going as far as to grab her, but he didn't actually do anything out of the ordinary.  
They came to the stairs and while walking up she begrudgingly looked at them as if it was their fault she slipped last time. On the way she also noticed what had cut her, a little stake of wood pointing outwards from the railing. There was no doubt about it, since it also looked like nobody had cleaned off the blood from its tip.  
Up at the top they then began walking back to the studio that she had seen yesterday and was met by multiple uneasy looking owls who seemed to have been waiting for them.

“Okay I’m back with the human. Today we’re recording on me train as ye know and this’ll be our detective for me next biggest movie!” he turned to Horaita, “Murder..on the Owl Express!” he snickered, seeming very delighted with his idea.  
“And as ye also know I told you to pick one of yous as the victim. Who’ll it be??” Conductor eagerly asked, staring at each one of the owls.

“I volunteer!” an owl with a green butterfly said with excitement. Conductor’s ears perked up and then he looked at the owl interested.  
“Ehehe, how thrilling! I’m glad this was an easy choice, because now we’ve gotten all the roles covered. Time to go owls, the rest of the crew is waiting! Off to the train!” he commanded.

“You too.” he said to Horaita, dragging her along.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Well, go on in!” he told her at the back of the train after having explained what she needed to know. Apparently she was only supposed to go find a detective outfit and then the script would play itself from there as long as she followed the obvious hints.

Stepping inside the train she was immediately greeted by the back of a tall and suited crow like person that quickly turned around and began speaking.  
“Why, hello there, fellow owl. I don’t believe we’ve met before?” It mechanically asked. “You can tell that I am obviously an owl as well. From one owl to another, we can share details, yes? What is your uncle’s sister’s maiden name?”

She pondered if she should answer. Did she even remember the answer? Instead she thought of something she’d really like right now.  
“Crayon!”  
“Oh, it is Crayon? I see, I see. The is the kind of uncle’s sister’s maiden name I would expect from a fellow Express Owl.” it agreed, then turned around like a robot, letting her go.  
Along the way she encountered more crow people and they all behaved exactly like the other by asking obscure questions and not reacting to her weird replies.  
Fluffles, Spaghetti, AreYouARobot?, I’mHungry…

After having just encountered an owl who couldn’t find his contact lenses she saw a key on a table. This must be for the lock she saw some time ago in the diner! Going back down the diner full of crows laughing over pizza and fire jokes, she unlocked the mysterious door to the front of the train.  
Inside was a gift wrapped box in the middle of the room. Opening it found to reveal the slightly ravaged detective outfit which she quickly put on and then walked back towards the door.

Suddenly an old phone rang ominously to her left and she carefully walked over to pick it up and listened.

“Is this the kid with the bow? I hope you like my present...hehehe.” a filtered voice said. “Go to the back of the train. Your uncle’s sister Crayon has come to visit you. You better show your fam’ some love, or I’ll be talking to a corpse next time.” *Click*.

As far as she knew, Horaita hadn’t really seen her parents in a while, nor an uncle’s sister for that matter. She wasn’t really sure, but that was okay, this was about movies! With that she ran back to the back of the train only to have a gruesome scene unfold before her.

“A-a-a MYURDER? On MY Owl Express!?” Conductor shouted. On the floor laid an owl in a pool of blood, a knife sticking out of it’s back. She could see the green butterfly though - that must be the one who volunteered to be the ‘victim’.  
“I can’t believe someone would murder one of the express owls!” he acted and turned to Horaita. “And I can’t believe even more that it’s yer uncle’s sister - eh - Crayon!”. He raised a quick eyebrow at her which made it hard for her to hold her composure without laughing in the middle of the scene.  
He began questioning the old lady standing behind the ‘dead’ owl which was an obvious cardboard circle with a bad paint job on it.

“Oh? Yer givin’ me the quiet treatment, eh?! That’s what a murderer would do!” he accused, rolling the r’s of “murderer” as much as possible.

“Leave this case to us.” A sudden voice said. Behind them stood the crow people who had snuck in without anybody noticing. “We’re CAW, the Crow Agent Watch. We’ve been monitoring everyone on this train since the last station. We’ll be searching the entire train for evidence. No one is allowed to go outside of this wagon.”

“WHAT?” He yelled, “I can’t even walk around in me own train!? How dare yer!”

“Once the clock hits midnight, we’ll get off at the station with the murderer in cuffs. Stay here while we investigate further.” and with that they left the wagon.

This seemed like a job for detective Horaita! Just in case, she looked over at The Conductor standing by the smelly(?) owl. He was mumbling to himself about how these ‘CAW peck necks can’t tell him what to do’ and that they’re definitely destroying all the evidence. In the middle of his mumbling he did indeed jerk his head to indicate that she better get moving.  
Inside the next room she saw the now scouting CAW agents walking around, inspecting every corner. Careful to not get noticed she climbed bookshelves and jumped down with a thud. She entered a door which had been previously blocked by a CAW agent, and inside she found evidence papers on the floor of...Conductor?

“Well”, she thought. Everyone was a valid suspect! Sneaking further she saw a betting table and under it something... moving? Curiously she looked under and found a yellow creature. Actually, it looked like the Conductor. A mini Conductor!

“Hi there!” she said in a soothing voice. The baby noticed her and squeaked, attempting to walk towards her with great difficulty, eventually resorting to crawling. “I don’t think you can stay here during filming. Should I bring you to your dad?” she asked it, reaching down to grab it. As soon as she touched its fluffy arms it suddenly vanished like smoke.  
“Huh?..” she looked down at her hands and around her. Nothing. The baby had simply disappeared.  
That was odd… she knew Bow Kid had similar abilities, but it still puzzled her that it had looked so real. Perhaps she should ask Conductor about it afterwards.

As she cleared more rooms while also finding more evidence, she managed to activate an automatic metal door at the top. Entering it revealed a huge room with dozens of CAW agents staring up at just as many TV screens on the wall. There were multiple doors and one larger at the top with red paint covering it reading “KEEP OUT!” What was going on?  
Sneaking around she found large holographic boards indicating that the crows knew more than they let on. A model of the train? Sketches of the dead owl and knife? Something was definitely not right here.  
Opening another automatic door, she encountered a burning hot furnace in the middle of the room with an immense amount of fire underneath the platforms. On them she overheard CAW agents at a table talk about her.  
“She had the ugliest I’mHungry!” and the rest of the assembly burst out in laughter.

Very confused, Horaita just continued to avoid their eyes and the fire, although it managed to scorch her a few times. She hissed at the pain and hoped that Conductor perhaps could help her again after the filming was done.

It proved that she would indeed need his help later as she was spotted in the next room she entered. The CAW agent attempted to grab her, swiping her face in the process with its talons, blood coating them. With no time to dwell on the injury she quickly ran out of the room with its evidence and made her way to the biggest door with the red paint. Seemingly having lost the agent inside the previous room she looked up only to see that the CAW agents suspected her as well, her anatomy displayed on a holographic board in a comedic style (small brain girl).  
Grumbling she snatched the evidence of herself. This must be enough.

The CAW agents, The Owls, The Conductor, Herself, Crayon or the dead owl.  
Who could it be?

 

“I’ve got evidence!” she shouted, panting as she came back into the room with The Conductor, Owls, Crayon and victim.  
“Ye look terrible.” He commented, having spotted the nasty claw wound and burns. He didn’t seem to do anything though, probably because he was still in the act.

“So? Who dunnit?” 

As she looked through the evidence she remembered something: The Kids.  
On her way back she had encountered two more of them crawling around. With the way that she had been scorched earlier there was no way that this was a safe environment for his young. She had to tell him.

“While searching, I saw some children running around.”  
He raised an eyebrow at her “Ah? What?”  
“Little you’s, like...tiny and yellow versions of you. I tried to catch one, but it somehow disappeared when I got close to it. I didn’t know you had kids-”  
Suddenly a hand wrapped around her throat, the clawed hand digging into her neck. Now panicking she gasped for air and tried to loosen his grip to no success, it only growing tighter.

[Killer Instinct♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Li2Xq1-3E0&list=PLTmvDPWQWsr79PLhkvABD0abe-gXeVpEg&index=48)  
“Lass...I thought ye were more sensitive.” he said through gritted teeth, then threw her on the floor, forcefully stomping a foot on her torso and crouched down. She gasped for the air she needed, only to have it ejected out again as he put more pressure on her chest. Putting a hand up to her neck she felt blood being smeared on her fingers as she touched the new claw wounds, and tears welled up in her eyes.  
She carefully looked up at him and his expression was of pure rage, no question. His hands twitched in a threatening demeanor, his eyes nearly glowing with spite and his mouth pulled into a snarl, showing off his fangs.

“Well.” he huffed, “..Guess that concludes our business!” he said, pulling out a butchers knife. With all of the short air supply she could manage, she screamed “NO! IM SORRY, PLEASE DON’T-”  
“SHUT UP. I’LL ENJOY PULLING YER BLOODY FLESH FROM YER BONES. GOODBYE, LASSIE!~” he chanted as he swung the knife down on her left shoulder. The metal easily carved several centimeters in, and an involuntary scream escaped from her sore throat.  
Conductor pulled the knife out with a sickening wet sound and she frantically grabbed his arm, to try steer it away. He growled, punching her in the face which sent her world spinning as well as making her lose her grip. He grabbed her resisting arm with a much stronger one of his own and placed the foot from her torso onto it, crushing it on purpose.  
He then swung down again at the same spot, this time fracturing her collarbone and narrowly missing her face. Immediately her arm went limp and she wailed in pain, thrashing around the rest of her body while trying to kick him in the back to not avail.

“Ohoho-” he chuckled with a sinister grin. “This’ll make for a GREAT movie don’tcha think? What a twist! You’d think yourself the smart detective, not batting a single eye on the savvy Conductor who found the best opportunity to strike! This’ll be a KILLER movie!” he cheered, and aimed downwards on her chest. The knife hit her ribcage, breaking a rib albeit not puncturing her lung which made him sneer at his failure.

Unexpectedly she hit him in the face with her free arm, though seemingly pointless as he seemed more taken aback by it than hurt.

“Alright, this can’t go on for any longer. Let’s wrap this up.” he said, seeming to get tired of her flailing, but also that he simply couldn’t wait any longer to get a bite. Turning the sharp end downwards again he stabbed deep wounds into her abdomen, over and over again. Her screaming and resistance stopped and she simply stared down in horror with wide eyes at the knife that colored all of her red, droplets of blood flying everywhere. She couldn’t scream, she only gasped short meaningless breaths of terror as if her mind couldn’t comprehend what was happening.

Out in the corner of her eye she barely noticed a flock of owls had gathered a respectful distance away, watching with interested looks. None of them came closer than the other and they only continued to stare...like scavengers. She tried calling out for help, but only coughed up blood which some of it splattered onto Conductor’s arm.  
Stopping, he turned to the crowd annoyed, “OI, someone get me the preparation supplies! I’ll share with the peck neck who does it!” he shouted before looking back down at Horaita.  
Everything was fading to black. Conductor seemed overjoyed, although she didn’t notice. She didn’t notice anything, nor that he began carving a piece out of her arm as everything was swallowed by darkness...

.̴̡̛.̵̡͘͢͢.̸̛͘͞.̴̧̧̛.̢̕͠.̴̢̨͟.̢͏͟.̢̨̛.҉̵.̸̢.͏̕͠͏̢.͢͠͠.̵̨͘͢.̕͠.͏̶̢͟.̡.̶̢.̛͟.̴̡̛͢͠.̶͞͞͞.͏̧.̶͟.̸̕͞.̸̕͝͡.͘͢.̴͢͞͝..̡͜.̡͟҉̧͘.̸.͜͞͡.̷̶̡͘.̡͏̴͟͞.҉..͠.̶̵̵.͢.̸̶͟.̛͟.̴͠.͘͢.̨̨̧̡̛.͏҉.̷҉.̷̸̸̷̢.̴̵͜͠.͝͏.̨̨̛͝.̧̛͢.͠.͘͞.̧͠.҉͏.̛̕͝͠.̶҉̴͘.̶̧.̨̛.͞.̵̧͞.̡̧͢.̨̛.̷͠.͏̨.̸̢͟͠҉.̵̶͝͠.̴͝͡҉.̷̢͜.҉͠.͘͠.̷̷.҉͘͜.̡̧.̸.̸͝.̵̧̛.̷͡͏̴̢.̢͘͜.̸̴.̢̕.͢.͟.̴̨.̴͡.̴̕͜҉.̸̸.͢͏͠͏.̸͡͠.̛.҉̧͢͠.̴̴̢͝.̵̷͢͞͞.̴̸.̴̷̛.̸̵͜.̡͘.̶͠͞.̧̕.͏͞.̷̛.̶͟͝.̷̶͟.͢͠.̨͘͘͡.҉̢̕.̨.̴̧.͘͜.̨͟҉.̷͘.҉͟͏̧.̢͟͞҉.̛͟͟.̨̨.͏͢.̵̵͜͠.̨͡.̵̢.̵͏͘.̷̢͝.͟.̢͝͞.͠.̸̢͘͝.̸̛͟͜͞.͏.̡̡͟҉͝.̢͞҉̴.̧.̸̡.̷͘.̕҉.̢.͘.̵.҉͟.̶̷̷.̕.͏̕͢.̧͡

[The Gavel Falls♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wOPKbeTnj0&list=PLTmvDPWQWsr79PLhkvABD0abe-gXeVpEg&index=60)

She was back.

She had woken up from a trance like state just outside the door to the back of the train. The door she had just gone through before showing The Conductor the evidence as well as telling him…  
She took a step back and exhaled. This had happened before, he would not remember what had happened she told herself. Just don’t mention the spectral kids she thought while opening the door.

He was in the same spot, looking over at her the same way as he had done previously. Now very wary of him she carefully stepped over, showing the evidence.

“I-I found some evidence.” she stuttered, showing him the files she had collected.

“Ye look terrible.” he commented the exact same way as before. “So? Who dunnit?”

Not wanting to seem suspicious of The Conductor she chose the crows, hoping with all her heart that it was the right answer.

“The crows did it?!” he exclaimed, and everyone in the room turned their heads to the agents.

“... It’s true.” one of them choked out.

The Conductor began having the agents spill their methods and reasons for murdering the owl, but Horaita’s mind couldn’t focus on any of it. The owl on the floor was not breathing even though he wasn’t in camera view. And it stank. It stank just like the slaughter house back at the studio.  
The wagon was warm thanks to its furnace like engine, but she was freezing.

A yellow hand forcing her out of her daze while also making her jump, grabbed her shoulder, and The Conductor spoke to her.  
“Well, thanks for solving the murder, lassy. You sure gave us some intense footage for the movie! And do you believe DJ Grooves will make a movie that’s even remotely as good? I think not!” he patted her on the back with the hand and cleared his throat.

“I s’pose ye want somethin’ in return. Here, take this thingamajig and get outta here!” he said and revealed a time piece for her to have as a reward.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - -

That evening she was not okay. Dinner was chicken again and she could only look down at it, a lump forming in her throat. Conductor seemed to notice the lack of energy which he found very unlike her.  
“Something wrong?”  
“Nothing, I’m good. Just tired.” she said. Everything was gonna be just fine she assured herself, as she pierced some of the bird onto her fork with a shaking hand.


End file.
